In the first quarter of 2020, the report says, poison centers received 45,550 calls related to exposure to those products, compared to 37,822 and 39,122 in 2019 and 2018, respectively. As a couple of examples, it describes one woman who had to go to the ER after she filled her sink with a mixture of bleach, vinegar and water to clean her groceries, and another case involving a preschool-aged child who lost consciousness and had to spend two days in the hospital after ingesting hand sanitizer.

The CDC adds that their data likely underestimates the real number of poisonings, because it only logs those who call poison centers. It also notes that it cannot directly connect the data with coronavirus, but given that calls to poisons centers “increased sharply” in March, just as Americans were cleaning stores out of sanitizer and disinfectant, it seems fair to jump to that conclusion.

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To help protect against accidental poisonings, the CDC has a number of recommendations. Those include reading and following directions on product labels, making sure areas are properly ventilated, keeping products out of the hands of children, and not mixing any products together.